July 05, 2011

The Memphis-Milano Movement Vs Dior

A friend of mine who is currently working on a dissertation about the Memphis-Milano movement read the previous post that mentioned it as a reference for Dior's Autumn/Winter 2011-12 Haute Couture collection and asked me if I could provide some examples. So this follow up to the previous post is a comparison between interior design objects and couture for the benefit of my friend but also for the benefit of all those readers who like interior design.

As you may remember the Memphis-Milano Movement was founded by Ettore Sottsass (who already appeared in previous posts on this site...) and it included quite a few architects and interior designers. All of them produced bright, colourful and at times eccentric pieces characterised by unusual shapes and silhouettes.

The name of the movement came from a Bob Dylan song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again”, but the main inspirations for the radical pieces they created were borrowed from Art Deco, Pop Art and from Futuristic elements. The results were totally unusual and at times the lamps, cabinets and plates the group produced looked more like toys than interior design pieces.

The Memphis-Milano movement turned 30 this year (it debuted during the 1981 Salone del Mobile), so it was somehow symbolical that Bill Gaytten at Dior moved from this inspiration that, it must be said, could have led to even better results if it had been tackled in a more coherent way (after all the members of the Memphis-Milano movement were in favour of fast changes brought by fashion and style, were inspired by film, music and even comics and had a passion for mixing different materials from plastic to glass and metal - so they are undoubtedly a great inspiration for a fashion designer).

So let's have a quick look at the images in this post: the first one sort of summarises two of the main themes of the collection, the bright/colourful/architectural (symbolised by the geometrical headdress) and the naturalistic one (see the wood print) and uses as a reference point Marco Zanini’s “Amazon” cabinet (1985).

The next image is instead a comparison between Michele De Lucchi’s "Tomato" plate (1985) with the detail of one of the jackets. Since Ettore Sottsass is a vitally important figure for Italian design and for the Memphis Movement, image three and four juxtapose two of his pieces, the "Tahiti" lamp (1981) and the "Clesitera" vase (1986) to a pair of Dior sandals and to the waving and circular motifs decorating Dior’s skirts.

While some of the colourful geometric prints probably find a derivation from Nathalie du Pasquier's rugs such as "Arizona" (1983 - not pictured), the black and white motifs call to mind exotic piece of furniture such as Martine Bedin’s "Lodge" (1986 - not pictured) or tables like Nathalie du Pasquier's "Madras" (1986), while the shapes of Matteo Thun’s white porcelain vase "Lagoda" and his toothpick holder "Superior" (1982) were echoed by the conical headdresses donned by the models.To have further information about the Memphis Milano Movement and its designs, check out its official site here.